Villa Grove to use police station for fire training

VILLA GROVE — While the city waits on demolition to begin on the condemned police station, the city fire department will use the abandoned building for training.

The department plans to contain a fire in a barrel inside the building, creating a large amount of smoke. This will allow the firefighters to train with face masks and breathing equipment, along with searching a smoke-filled building.

The department is hoping to conduct multiple training sessions, before Franzen Construction begins the planned demolition of the building on Main Street.

Aldermen agreed that this would cost less than similar training offered at the Illinois Fire Service Institute, but cautioned about including other nearby volunteer departments until insurance coverage could be verified.

More Local

Comments

News-Gazette.com embraces discussion of both community and world issues. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. We reserve the right to remove any comment at our discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.